Money Box

Flooding damages property, lives and can be incredibly financially damaging as well.

There was £352 million pounds in insurance claims for damaged homes following storms Babet, Ciaran and Debi at the end of last year according to the Association of British Insurers. We don't yet know the financial fall out of January's storm Henk - the eighth named storm of the season - but as the climate changes, insurers expect even more of this kind of weather.

So what is flooding costing homeowners and businesses and what is the best advice if you've been affected?

Felicity Hannah visits a flat owner in Worcestershire and we hear from the man who spent £80,000 taking matters into his own hands.

This week we're joined by Heather Shepherd from the charity the National Flood Forum as well as Laura Hughes, Manager of General Insurance at the Association of British Insurers, which represents the industry.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Sarah Rogers Editor: Sara Wadeson

(This episode was first broadcast on Wednesday the 17th of January on Radio 4 at 3pm)

New figures given to Money Box show there has been a big increase in the amount of money being stolen through fake text messages offering people jobs. These recruitment scams are usually sent via text or WhatsApp and offer high pay, easy hours and the chance to work from home. Last year 126 people contacted Action Fraud saying they'd been victims of this type of scam with £977,000 stolen from them. That is 50 times as much as was reported the year before. What do you need to look out for?

Storm Henk was the 8th storm of this season and more could well be on the way. As the flooding costs for insurers rise, home insurance premiums move up with them. According to the Consumer Intelligence Home Insurance Price Index they had already risen 36% by last October. We'll explain all you need to know about flood insurance.

When you pay into a pension you expect it to be there for you when you retire. We investigate one listener's case who discovered her pension company had taken all her money in charges.

And Paul Lewis asks listeners how they buy their music? Email [email protected]

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Sandra Hardial Researcher: Jo Krasner Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 13th January, 2024)

The price of nursery can be more than a mortgage. In fact, to send a two-year-old to nursery for 50 hours a week, allowing you to work full time, can set you back more than £14,000 a year according to Coram the children's charity.

But, from April this year, working parents in England can claim 15 government funded hours for two year olds, instead of waiting for them to turn three to get help.

Applications for that support are now open - but there are concerns that not all parents will be be able to get their applications processed in time to use them. We've been investigating that, and what else is available to cut childcare costs for mums and dads.

We'll also hear from a nursery owner on the financial pressures of caring for children and talk about the costs of having school age kids.

Felicity Hannah is joined by Paul Rhodes from the Money and Pensions Service and Meghan Meek-O'Connor, senior policy adviser on child poverty at Save the Children UK.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Sarah Rogers Editor: Jess Quayle

(This episode was first broadcast on the 10th of January at 3pm on Radio 4).

National Insurance will be cut for millions workers from today. It'll be cut from 12% to 10% - the lowest main rate for more than twenty years. The government says this cut will save an employee on average earnings around £450 a year. However, some experts including the Office for Budget Responsibility say that gain is far less than the cost of freezing personal tax allowances from 2021 while wages rose. What will it mean for you?

A new set of regulations designed to help victims of fraud should see up to 90% of them get the money stolen from them refunded by their banks. That's according to Chris Hemsley, who runs the Payment Systems Regulator. He says he hopes the change will encourage the industry to do even more to stop fraud from happening in the first place.

HM Revenue and Customs says it will only take what it calls 'priority calls' on its Self Assessment helpline ahead of the 31st January tax deadline - sending everyone else to its online services. How will that work in practice?

And what parents of small children need to do to apply for the new 15 hours of free childcare.

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth, Sandra Hardial and Eimear Devlin Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 6th January 2024)

It can feel like new year, new you, with so much potential for change and improvement, but then reality can kick in.

Around 1 in 3 of us will have made a financial resolution this year, but according to Hargreaves Lansdown, almost 20% of us won't even make it to the end of this week.

So how do you make them stick? Felicity Hannah is joined by behavioural & data scientist Professor Pragya Agarwal, Laura Suter, Head of Personal Finance at AJ Bell and consumer rights expert Martyn James.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah Reporter: Andrew Strachan Producer: Sarah Rogers Editor: Jess Quayle

(This episode was first broadcast on Radio 4, Wednesday the 3rd of January 2024 at 3pm)

Are you putting down the mince pies and opening your bank statements? Well, you're in the right place as we're dedicating some time to the kinds of money topics that come up between Christmas and New Year.

Perhaps you want to know your consumer rights before hitting the sales, what to do with unwanted gifts or maybe you've spent more than you can afford this festive season? If so, then you've come to the right place.

We'll hear why for hundreds of thousands of people, their tax return has become a festive tradition.

And we'll also look ahead to Summer 2024 and how to get some holiday bargains.

Felicity Hannah is joined by, etiquette coach William Hanson, Emma Munbodh, the money news editor at The Telegraph, Anna Hall the head of money and debt operations at the Money and Pensions Service and Rob Staines an independent travel expert.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah Reporter: Luke Smithurst Producer: Sarah Rogers Editor: Jess Quayle

(This is a slightly shorter version of an episode was first broadcast on Wednesday the 27th of December 2023 at 3pm on Radio 4)

Higher earners in Scotland are to pay more income tax from April. That was one of the headlines from the Scottish government in its budget on Tuesday. We'll discuss that change and more with Professor Mairi Spowage, director of the Fraser of Allander Institute at the University of Strathclyde.

Tens of thousands of teenagers could benefit from studying the subject of core maths once they turn 16. That's according to the charity Maths in Education and Industry. The course was launched in 2014 and currently has around 12,000 teenagers studying it in around 30 per cent of schools across England. However, the MEI says it's vital to get as many students as possible signed up.

We have our top three Christmas crackers – tips to save you money in 2024. We also revisit some of the people we've helped this year.

Plus, festive music from the City of Lincoln Band.

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researchers: Sandra Hardial and Jo Krasner Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 23rd December 2023)

A typical rental property gets 25 enquires from people who want to view it, according to the property listings site Rightmove. That high demand also comes alongside high prices. The estate agents Hamptons says tenants have been hit with the biggest rise in rental costs in at least a decade. And it's not just tenants feeling the pinch. We look at the impact rising interest rates have had on those owning the homes people are renting.

With Felicity Hannah today to go through your questions and comments we have Richard Blanco from the National Residential Landlords Association, Jasmine Basran - Head of Policy and Campaigns and CRISIS, and Richard Donnell - Head of Research and Insight at Zoopla.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Sarah Rogers Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 3pm Wednesday 20th December, 2023)

The Office for National Statistics has published the first of a new quarterly set of figures designed to reflect how inflation is experienced by households. They are called the Household Costs Indices and include things like mortgage costs, interest and insurance. It showed that overall UK household costs rose by 8.2% in the 12 months to September. How does it compare to other measures and what impact could it have? Are you thinking of buying a gift card as a present for Christmas? There's a warning that people looking to use gift cards this Christmas need to be on the look out for scams and fraud.

And from 1st January the cost of heating and lighting your home and cooking your food will rise in England, Scotland, and Wales. The average increase in energy bills will be just over 5% adding £94 a year to the typical bill. As some suppliers begin offering deals to fix your costs we'll ask what should you do?

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researchers: Eimear Devlin and Jo Krasner Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 16th December 2023)

This week we're tackling the cost of the festive season and looking at how to avoid scams.

The cost of Christmas is up almost a quarter over the last three years according to the The Centre for Economics and Business Research. What can you do to keep costs down?

And as figures from UK Finance, the trade body for banks, suggest nearly £100m will be stolen from around 200,000 people through fraud and scams over the Christmas period we'll discuss what you can do to avoid them.

With Felicity Hannah today to go through your questions and comments we have Sarah Pennells, consumer finance specialist at Royal London and Professor Sharon Collard, Research Director at the University of Bristol's Personal Finance Research Centre.

We'll also be hearing from Paul Askew a chef and the owner of the Art School restaurant in Liverpool and he'll be giving us some tips on how to cut the cost of Christmas Dinner.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Sarah Rogers Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Kath Paddison Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 3pm Wednesday 13th December, 2023)